Ashen Being
by Jayden Mackenzie
Summary: Zetsu, while out and about enjoying a frosty winter day, gets a call from his leader sending him on a mission. When the mission is over, he finds out what it's like to turn to white ash.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of _Naruto_, however all creative liberties belong to me. The fiction story line is purely mine, and views on what characters look like (such as hair or eye) is also mine.  
**Authors Note:** This is done from my own perspective and application to what I know about the characters. As Zetsu has made few long lasting apperances and is still mostly a mysterious character, this is my interpritation of how I see his character. There a few spoilers, but some nonetheless.**  
**

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Zetsu's kinder side let out a warm breath into the cool frosty air. It was hard to believe that summer had come and gone, but there had been nearly no autumn at all. Plants died quickly, hardly having a chance to recover from the heat wave in the midst of the year. Brilliant colors faded into nothing, the hues being sucked up like liquid into a baster not to release the color until next spring. Greens turned ugly like ash, reds and yellows were gone with the migrating birds Zetsu found himself staring at.

The odd man, possibly the strangest of the organization, turned his golden orbs to the garden before him before glancing up again to watch the last fleeting bird head South. His mind vaguely soared with them into the blue sky with scattered wispy clouds floating by. _Why did winter always seem to sneak up on us_, he pondered slowly. His right side wasn't paying much attention, thus he received no reply. Again he sighed heavily, a puff of smoky white drifting off into the atmosphere

Taking a step off he slowly walked across rounded flat stones and entered a small garden. The darker side of Zetsu hated this place, swore at it and called it names, but the white half enjoyed the plants to a point. He fancied looking at the flowers and brush, being with them as they were similar in a way. Fingers grazed the tips of petals and plucked up a lone flower. The plants was as white as crystal snow, glittering with dew and sparkling in the cold morning sun. It was the final white rose of the season, living and thriving long past its final hour.

Zetsu brought the snowy flower to his nose and took in a brief sniff. He hated the scent of roses, they smelling particularly nasty in his refined opinion. He preferred the metallic smell of blood, however strange that may be. With another small sniff, the rather wretched aroma filled his sense and the plant twirling in his fingers. A small thorn pricked his skin and drew a tiny drop of blood on his right ring finger.

"Ouch." complained the black side, finally involving himself in the on goings around them. He glared a moment at the rose before throwing it away, the beautiful plant falling to the ground sadly.

"_Why do you do that?"_ asked the white, bending over to pick up the rose. His hand just barely reached it, missed, and his food crushed it with a crunch and turning of his foot. It was smashed now, burried into the hard earth under the sole of his shoe. Both halves were quiet, staring down at the once lovely thing; one long petal managing to evade destruction.

"I do it because I like it." hissed the black as he let his foot grind the stem and silky petals into the ground further. With a murmur Zetsu slowly bent and picked up the surviving petal and holding it safely in his palm before turning and walking off. Going back the way he'd come through the garden his golden eyes looked here and there, gazed up at the sky and then stared boredly at the earth below.

_"Zetsu. I have a job for you."_ Came the leaders voice in his mind. With a nod and a quick run of his hand through his green hair, that hand then touched the rough bark of the closest tree and he disappeared from the garden. Being absorbed easily into the wood he started his return to the base where he would receive further instruction.

---

His face moved from the bark, pushing it outward until he could see the two speaking to one another. His yellowy eyes watched the pair, that slippery snake wave his right hand about airily as his henchman spoke softly. Moving back into the tree, Zetsu slunk around behind Kabuto to get a better view and have an advantage on hearing. Orochimaru didn't appear to notice, but if he did he pretended not to. That was all the half and half cared about, but so far he had never been caught. Not once.

"You should just toss the ring." Kabuto said as he shifted on his feet, fingers quickly adjusting his glasses on his nose. Snake eyes raised and glared at the younger male, a sneer forming on his lips as he paced around once.

"No. It's mine." He said in his sharp sinister tone. "They are not going to get it back. I want to see them suffer for what they did to me." Kabuto gave Orochimaru a questioning look, mouth opening but then closing once before it opened again.

"What _exactly_ did they do?" Asked the white haired assistant as he looked over Orochimaru, the man himself gazing around for spies but saw none yet.

"It's not your concern." Orochimaru finally replied as he turned around, his piercing yellow eyes focusing in on the younger. "It doesn't matter. They're getting it back." With a cruel smirk he looked at his hand, the right fiddling with the ring on his left pinkie. His eyes moved from Kabuto to the ring and he continued his smirk, it dropped to a frown as the breeze shifted and he caught the scent of another being in the area. Glaring he looked at Kabuto who hadn't noticed anything, but seeing as Orochimaru was now on guard and saying nothing Kabuto jumped on board. Slowly he circled around the small oblong shaped clearing and found nothing. Looking back to Orochimaru he shook his head, but no findings was not good enough.

With a hiss Orochimaru turned to leave from the clearing but with inhuman speed he turned and darted off past Kabuto. In this stealth and eerie process he found Zetsu and threw his arm into the tree bark. There was a thud and then Zetsu disappeared into the wood with a laughing smirk on his face before he was gone. Swearing, Orochimaru turned to Kabuto and took out his anger on his subordinant. Of course he was angry, Kabuto hadn't done his job, and he was going to pay dearly some time or another.

"You're a failure." Shot the pale man before walking off away from the thinker, his long black hair blowing in the wind before he was gone completely from sight. Kabuto watched him for a moment before he hurried after him with a sigh, knowing perfectly well he'd done wrong and his master had a right to be angry.

---

"Why do you still have that petal you pathetic piece of shit?" asked Zetsu's darker side as they walked along into the headquarters. In the right palm was the snowy white petal in which had been saved from destruction. The light side didn't reply at first as he gently fisted the small survivor and pocketed it carefully. The last petal of a rose lasting far into winter was something to be cherrished, wasn't it? Perhaps it wasn't art, nor was it all powerful, and nothing close to undead, but it was alive wasn't it?

_"I keep it because it deserves to live a little bit longer."_ White finally replied before coming to a halt at his usual place around the dark cavernous place. His orbs, brighter than the rest in the dark, blinked twice before they announced off their information on Orochimaru's whereabouts and what he was doing. Currently it appeared as though he was doing nothing, but since they'd been caught in the act they wouldn't know some time. Zetsu personally was upset over his failure, he should have stayed farther away but the two were talking so quietly that he hadn't been able to hear! All mysterious eyes turned to him as he told the organization he failed, some only projections as the actual figure couldn't make it to the base. Itachi's eyes were closed as if he were too good to look at Zetsu, Kisame's were turned away, and Obito's were hidden, but the rest stared at him unblinking.

_"He saw you?"_ Asked their leader in confirmation. When Zetsu nodded the man made his leave, having nothing more to say to the group. Zetsu had been the last to speak, and now he felt that he too had lost all of his color and thus turning to nothing more than a white ashen being.


End file.
